Housing Authority of the City of Asheville Records

M2007.12.01-140

Asheville Housing Authority booklet, "Our Community - Civic Redevelopment," 
in Housing Authority of the City of Asheville, N.C., Records, Ramsey Library, Special Collections, UNCA

This collection consists of nearly 130 linear feet (129 cartons) of administrative records for  Asheville’s Redevelopment Commission dating from around 1958 to 1970, as well as the official records of Asheville’s Housing Authority from the late 1940s to the 1990s.  The records in this collection pertain primarily to several significant redevelopment projects undertaken by Asheville from the early 1960s to the mid-1980s.  Also represented to a lesser extent are smaller development and redevelopment projects, as well as several housing projects and bridge projects.

In general project records include standard planning documents such as project area maps, a survey of the existing structures in the project area, the redevelopment plan, appraisal reports, and ownership data.  Also included are general project administrative documents such as correspondence, contracts, reports, news clippings, and summary documents.  In addition to general administration files and planning documents are several series pertaining to the acquisition, disposal, or rehabilitation of individual parcels, as well as the relocation of individual occupants.  

As of late 2015-early 2016 the collection is currently being reprocessed and some sections have not been thoroughly examined.  Several series containing sensitive information are closed to researchers pending review of confidential and private information in some of the records.

The records of the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville were acquired by UNCA in July 2007, and the legal transfer of ownership occurred on October 16, 2007 when the Asheville City Council approved the transfer of the material files and photographs and provided a subsidy for the processing of the collection.  Since then, additional materials were identified and acquired in 2008 and it is anticipated that additions to the collection will be forthcoming.

A GENERAL HISTORY OF EARLY URBAN RENEWAL IN ASHEVILLE outlines rationale and the early years of planning for renewal projects (largely the Civic Redevelopment Project and the East Riverside Project)  but does not address all the revisions that have occurred from the mid-1970s forward.

The Housing Authority of the City of Asheville collection is being reprocessed and organized. New container lists are being developed and will be added to this finding aid as they are completed. Items are being reboxed and new box numbers will be posted as they are processed.

The collection is divided into the following structure, based on the original order of the files as they were received from the City of Asheville:

Part 1)  Redevelopment Commission Files (1 box) and Housing Authority General Administrative Files (6 boxes)

Part 2)  Housing Authority Rehabilitation Assistance Program Records (4 Boxes) and Social Services Case Files (1 Box)

Part 3) Asheville Downtown Commercial Complex (5 Boxes)

Part 4) Civic Redevelopment FIles (6 Boxes)

Part 5) Redevelopment Commission Files (5 Boxes)

Part 6) East End/Valley Street Project Files (22 Boxes)

Part 7) East Riverside Project Files (80 Boxes)

Part 8) Montford Project Files (2 boxes)

Part 9) Head of Montford (5 boxes)

Part 10) South Pack Square and Pack Place Files (2 boxes)

Part 11) Pack Plaza Files (2 boxes)

Part 12) Other Projects and Programs (16 boxes)

The organization also includes numerous series relating to specific redevelopment and other Housing Authority projects and two media series (Reference Materials not published by the Housing Authority and Photographic Media not associated with specific project files)

Container Lists

 Boxes 1-6 and 149

Boxes 7-11

Part 12 - Other Projects and Programs

NC 7-1A: HACA Offices
NC 7-4: Hillcrest Apartments
NC 7-5: Erskine-Walton
NC 7-6: Aston Park Towers
Airport Projects
Bridge Projects
NC R-13 and NC 7-13
Community Projects
Other Projects and Streetworks

Photographic Media

Contains prints, transparencies,negatives and a video of HACA projects

[See also:  East Riverside Photographs]

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL